Adrian Franklin can remember the exact moment when he was told he had to be in a wedding with Brooke. He was only five years old but to him it was like yesterday, “I was devastated. I was like ‘tell me I don’t have to walk down the aisle with her!”

Seventeen years ago, he was the ring bearer and she was the flower girl in the wedding of a family friend. Brooke, who was also five, said she had the biggest crush on Adrian. He knew it and he hated it.

“We went to school together and I would always try to play with him on the playground and he wouldn’t have anything to do with it,” Brooke said.

“I was always trying to get away from her and run from her and hide from her,” Adrian said.

The two started “dating” in their early teens after Adrian asked Brooke if she would be his girlfriend. He wrote the message with his finger on her back. She didn’t say anything for a while, leaving Adrian hanging.

“He forgot to put the question mark!” Brooke said.

That memory emerged again years later when Adrian asked Brooke to be his wife.

“I had some friends ride by in a boat with a sign that said ‘Will you marry me Brooke,” Adrian said. He then got down on one knee and handed Brooke a question mark. She said yes.

On September 19th, the two were married in the same church they appeared in 17 years ago. Only the feelings were different this time. Adrian wasn’t hiding, he was smiling from ear to ear.

Now 21 and 22 years old, the couple says they’ve been told they’re too young. “That’s all right. We accept that,” Adrian said, “But at the same time we know it’s God ordained and for God to bring our steps together this far, we know our steps have been ordered by the Lord.”